South Carolina Archival Association

Web Survey Findings

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Research Objective

Conduct a Web survey to document the perceptions and needs of South Carolina archivists regarding continuing education, professional development and professional development services.

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About the Web Survey

Conducted November 2009 by Market Soundings, Inc.

Based on A*CENSUS questionnaire

Sent to 350 South Carolina archivists

129 respondents (37% return)

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Who responded?

74% female 47% age 45 - 64 42% hold archivist position; 17% librarian 36% academic employer; 26% gov.; 23% nonprofit 81% in professional position 67% have advanced degree 79% work in multiple employee department 50% current/past leader in archival association

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What did they say?

“The conduct of this survey is a major sign that the South Carolina archival-based professional organizations are the best.”

“Keep up surveys and open-ended contacts like this

at all levels.”

“Thank you for including me in this survey.”

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Are SC organizations meeting their member’s needs?

0 10 20 30 40

% of Respondents

Not Sure

6 or less

7 or 8

9 or 10

Average Rating 8.2 out of 10

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What did they say?

“Please continue the good job that you do. We need you.”

“I fully appreciate how time consuming it is to be a leader of a professional association and am grateful for all the hard work the officers and boards put into planning association activities and content.”

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What are people’s concerns?

Overlap of services

Dissatisfaction with programs

Lack of communication

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What did they say?

“Even though there are a number of archival-related organizations, each generally offers the same programs.” (5)

“Greater coordination among organizations would benefit the archival community by…. identifying areas for collaboration, eliminating duplication and maximizing resources.” (8)

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What did they say?

“I’ve been somewhat disappointed in the program content...lack of choices, repetition, and training needs despite our feedback.” (8)

“I need more hands-on training...we spend too much time discussing philosophy of service rather than the mechanics of how to arrange, describe and process archives.” (7)

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What did they say?

“I don’t know enough about the professional organizations to rate one way or another. We could use more information about them.” (5)

“There are a lot of small organizations that don’t do a good job of publicizing themselves or explaining their missions.” (5)

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What did they say?

“There isn’t enough publicizing of what they do. I usually don’t find out about informative meetings, conferences, or workshops until a few days prior to the event.” (5)

“I am new to the job…I think that many of the organizations are not as welcoming and are not marketing to younger/new professionals in the field.” (5)

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What’s important when deciding to join?

Continue education (55%) Network with other professionals (55%) Keep abreast of news in the field (42%) Conferences and meetings (37%) Cost of dues (28%) Commitment to my profession (26%)

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Belong Now Would Choose Diff.

SCAA 48% 53% + 5

PALMCOP 36 46 +10

SCLA-ASC 9 36 +27

SCHA 14 30 +16

SCLA 16 18 + 2

CALM 26 17 - 9

Confed. 8 13 + 5

Which SC archival organizations do they belong to?

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Organizations belong to…contd.

Belong Now Would Choose Diff.

SCPRA 9% 11% + 2

CUSH 12 10 - 2

SCFM 15 10 - 5

USC-SIS 2 3 + 1

Other 7 3 - 4

None of these 16 11 - 5

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Additional Organizations Would Choose To Belong To:

Belong To: CALM CONFD CUSH PALMCO SCAA SCFM SCHA SCLA SCLAASC SCPRA USCSIS TOTAL

CALM (34) - - 19 16 4 6 6 12 2 2 67

CONFED (10) - 1 1 5 1 6 1 3 1 - 19

CUSH (15) - 6 9 6 1 8 2 3 3 - 38

PALMCOP(47) 9 8 7 28 4 15 9 21 7 1 109

SCAA (62) 9 11 8 31 5 19 12 26 10 3 134

SCFM (19) 3 5 2 9 10 8 1 5 3 - 46

SCHA (18) 2 5 2 4 12 1 1 9 4 1 41

SCLA (20) 1 2 3 10 13 1 7 11 1 1 50

SCLAASC(12 1 1 1 7 10 - 4 7 - 1 32

SCPRA (12) 1 3 1 8 8 - 3 1 4 - 29

USC-SIS (3) 1 - - 2 3 2 - - 2 - 10

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Why did they choose these organizations?

“They are specific to South Carolina and meet our mission statement objectives.”

“They are most closely associated with my job duties and interests.”

“They have the best conferences, best contacts, best programs for what I’m interested in.”

“Cost, proximity of meetings to workplace and colleagues that have joined.”

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Which one delivers the best value?

0 10 20 30 40 50

% of Respondents

CALM

PALMCOP

SCAA

Don't Know

Best Value for Dues Charged

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Which one offers the best programs?

0 10 20 30 40 50

% of Respondents

SCFM

PALMCOP

SCAA

Don't Know

Best Continuing Education Programs

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What programs were best and why?

“The speakers were professional, interesting, knowledgeable and friendly.” -SCDAH

“Hands-on, practical and relevant.” –SCAA

“A broad array of sessions and good opportunities for networking.” –SCFM

“Top notch instructors, cutting-edge field and reasonable costs.” -SAA

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How often do people attend programs?

0 10 20 30 40

% of Respondents

None

One

Three +

Two

# of SC Programs Attended Annually

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What do they want to learn about?

Digitization (60%) MARC, EAD, other cataloging (39%) AV-Electronic Management (35%) Records Management (34%) Basic Preservation (31%)

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Continuing education topics contd.

Education and Outreach/Reference (29%) Collections Dev/Donor Relations (26%) Basic Arrangement & Description (24%) Exhibits (24%) Public Relations (22%)

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What keeps people from attending?

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

% of Respondents

Work time

Programs

Distance

Cost

Barriers to Continuing Education

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How much of an issue is financial support?

0 20 40 60

% of Respondents

1,500+

$500-$1,499

< $500

Nothing

Individual Willing to Pay vs. Employer Paid

Individual

Employer

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What did they say?

“There has been ZERO support from my director to join or interact with South Carolina archival associations.”

“The recession has reduced the ability of organizations to fund travel, but people still attend.”

“Until budgets are better, have more joint meetings of organizations and only hold annual meetings.”

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Which communication tools are best?

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

% of Respondents

Listservs

Workshops

E-mail

Conferences

Connects You to Your Organization

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Best communication tools contd.

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

% of Respondents

Blogs

Mailings

Websites

Newsletters

Meetings

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What did they say?

“Meeting notifications or e-mails should be sent out sooner. Maybe a save-the-date e-mail so that schedules can be cleared.”

“I receive e-mail updates on what is happening….these have been very helpful. More information and workshops would be even better.”

“I think we should meet more…either by Web or face-to-face.”

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What have we learned?

A strong survey response (37%) indicates that respondents support South Carolina’s archival associations and are interested in their continued success.

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What have we learned?

South Carolina archival associations are generally appreciated and perceived as doing a good job (8.2 out of 10 rating).

However, areas of concern include: duplication of effort, strained resources, lack of awareness, program quality and non-involvement by younger members.

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What have we learned?

Continuing education, networking with other professionals and keeping abreast of industry news are the primary things members want from an archival association.

They seek to join an organization that fills a professional need, is well-run and is affordable.

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What have we learned?

While SCAA (48%), PALMCOP (36%) and CALM (26%) are currently the largest organizations, SCLA-ASC (+27), SCHA (+16) and PALMCOP (+10) would gain the most members if people could belong to any organization they choose.

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What have we learned?

While SCAA (20%) and PALMCOP (13%) are viewed as delivering the best value for the dues they charge, many (43%) are unfamiliar with South Carolina archival associations and cannot rate their value.

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What have we learned?

While SCAA (19%) and PALMCOP (13%) are viewed as having the best continuing education programs, many people (50%) are unfamiliar with South Carolina’s archival associations and cannot rate their programs.

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What have we learned?

The best education programs are affordable, cover relevant/practical topics, are taught by knowledgeable professionals using hands-on techniques, and provide networking opportunities.

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What have we learned?

Most people (81%) attend at least one South Carolina continuing education program a year, but don’t attend more due to cost (60%) and distance (47%) barriers.

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What have we learned?

Many people (37%) do not receive any financial support for continuing education.

While most (73%) are willing to spend their own money on continuing education, half (56%) said it would be only up to $500 annually.

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What have we learned?

Conferences (55%), e-mail (51%) and workshops (43%) help members feel the most connected to their South Carolina archival associations.

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What’s next?

Discussion

Next steps

Solutions